Facility for Refugees in Turkey: the EU invests in the education of 70,000 Syrian refugee children

The EU contracted €270 million to boost education infrastructure for Refugees in Turkey

The European Commission signed contracts worth a total of €270 million for construction and equipping of school buildings for Syrian refugee children and their host communities in Turkey. Under these contracts, some 100 schools are to be built and equipped, benefitting over 70,000 Syrian refugee children primarily in Turkey's Southern and South-Eastern provinces. The EU funding will also help the Turkish Ministry of National Education (MoNE) to manage educational infrastructure.

Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations said: "The EU continues to deliver on its firm commitment to support Syrian refugees living in Turkey. With the contracts signed today worth €270 million, we will further improve the educational infrastructure on the ground, enabling over 70,000 Syrian refugee children to have access to schooling across the country. We look forward to signing additional contracts in the areas of health, socio-economic support and municipal infrastructure in the near future, to give refugee kids and their families a better perspective in the country".  

The Commission's support is implemented through Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and the World Bank. The funding comes from the EU's Facility for Refugees in Turkey (€200 million as part of the €1.4 billion of the Special Measure adopted by the Commission at the end of July) and the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis (€70 million)

Since March this year, the EU has mobilised €2.2 billion out of the total budget of €3 billion under the Facility for Refugees in Turkey. The Facility supports the implementation of both the EU-Turkey Joint Action Plan and the EU-Turkey Statement and is designed to address the most critical needs of Syrian refugees and host communities in Turkey today.

Details on projects funded under the Facility for Refugees in Turkey can be found at:

http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/news_corner/migration/index_en.htm

Background

The Facility for Refugees in Turkey was set up in response to the European Council's call for significant additional funding to support refugees in Turkey.

The Facility has a budget of €3 billion for 2016-2017. This is made up of €1 billion from the EU budget, and €2 billion from the EU Member States. All Member States have sent in their contribution certificates for the €2 billion they pledged.

So far, 37 projects have been contracted worth €1.45 billion, out of which €691 million has been disbursed. The total allocated for implementation under the Facility for Refugees in Turkey on humanitarian and non-humanitarian actions now stands at €2.2 billion.

The Facility provides a joint coordination mechanism, designed to ensure that the needs of refugees and host communities are addressed in a comprehensive and coordinated manner. Funding under the Facility supports refugees in the country, it is therefore not a funding for Turkey. The support seeks to improve conditions for refugees in Turkey as part of the EU's comprehensive approach to addressing the refugee crisis inside and outside the EU.

Since its establishment in December 2014, substantial non-humanitarian aid for Syria's neighbouring countries is channelled through the EU Regional Trust Fund in response to the Syrian Crisis. The EU Regional Trust Fund brings a more coherent and integrated EU response to the crisis and primarily addresses longer term economic, educational and social needs of Syrian refugees, overstretched host communities & administrations in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey & Iraq, and on the Western Balkan route.

Today the EU Regional Trust Fund is also one of the key instruments through which the new EU ‘Compacts' with Jordan and Lebanon will be implemented.

With contributions and pledges from 22 Member States, amounting to €92.60 million, and contributions from various EU instruments, the Fund will reach a total volume of €1 billion by early 2017. Projects focusing on education, livelihoods and health have already been approved, covering a total of €767 million. €232 million have been contracted to the Trust Fund's implementing partners on the ground.